ESB to execute an offshore wind power plant in Ireland worth close to a billion Euros

The latest news in the renewable energy cosmos is that of ESB aiming to profoundly penetrate the offshore wind industry. Taking into account the several energy and environmental benefits of renewables, the Irish Government has planned to develop a wind farm on the Irish sea. The Electricity Supply Board (ESB), the state owned electricity supply company of the Republic of Ireland, has, in this regard, decided to invest substantial funds in the development of offshore wind energy. By the end of 2018, ESB is planning to acquire a substantial number of offshore wind energy power plants through the project planning and process.

Apart from Ireland, ESB is also working on the development of a number of projects across UK. Recently, the company commenced the gas fired power plant at Carrington - a village near Manchester. Moreover, the company has also been planning to construct an onshore wind power plant in UK with a capacity of 400 megawatts. The growing investments in the development of wind based renewable energy power plants by the ESB in several European countries is likely to contribute toward EMEA offshore wind turbine market share.

In a bid to counterbalance financial burdens, the ESB is planning to step into the realm of strategic partnerships to construct offshore wind farms. This methodology of planning is likely to help the Irish Electricity Supply Board in terms of fund generation that is a vital necessity for the construction of an offshore wind farm. The company plans to construct all these plants on the Irish sea. Most of the individual projects will range from 200 megawatts to 500 megawatts in capacity, while some of the plants are likely to have an extended capacity. For the record, Ireland has only one offshore wind farm located in Arklow, one of the coastal areas of Ireland.

As per industry analysts, the establishment cost per megawatt of power in the region is EUR 2 million. Taking this expense into account, a wind farm of capacity 200 megawatts is likely to cost around EUR 400 million, while around EUR 1 billion is required to establish a wind power plant of 500 megawatt capacity. On these grounds, ESB is looking out to entice institutional investors for financial backing. Apart from the financial partners, ESB is looking forward to establish partnerships with construction companies as well, similar to its already existing partners - Japan’s Mitsubishi, the Danish company DONG Energy, and the like.

Considering the benefits of renewable energy, many regions across myriad geographies are adopting off-shore technologies on large scale. An increasing number of offshore wind farms are slated to reduce the production cost of electricity, which will favorably support the initiation taken by ESB to carry out mid-stage developments across UK and Ireland. ESB is also attempting to deploy many more funding options to promote wind energy power plants. Apart from harnessing wind power, ESB has also been working on solar projects and onshore wind power plants, which will significantly favor the low-carbon electricity generation strategy of regional governments.

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Sunil Hebbalkar

Sunil Hebbalkar develops content for Algosonline, Market Size Forecasters, and a couple of other platforms. A Post graduate mechanical design engineer by qualification, he worked as an intern at the defense lab for one year in the engine design and development departm...

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